And with respect to the UK, I'd kind of like to see the same type of history quiz given to the young folks here in the US.. I saw something on tv where they went around asking people history questions pertaining to US history and you'd be surprised how bad they did.

Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints in our hearts...and we are never, ever the same. - Author Unknown

I'm a great fan of Sherlock Holmes and lots of 'Sherlockians' treat him as if he were real. Heck, in the notations I read I began to think he was real and that Dr. Watson wrote the stories. Sorry Sir Arthur.

being british (English) i wonder which part of the country this survey was carried out.Great Britain or the U.K. is four seperate countries each with it's own identy, history and traditions. We all live under the flag of union but we are all proud to be English, Scottish, Welsh, or Irish. Anyway my point is that this survey is very hard on all the non English nations, of the twenty names on the list thirteen/fourteen are English and there is no way on earth a proud Scott (or any of the other three countries) would study English history over his own, and i for one second would not blame him/her. so if this study was done in Scotland you might get very different results as if you did the study in England. There is not much on the list that worries me too much regarding our education system. Richard the lionheart, was french he hated this country, could not speak English and spent most of his time fighting crusades against the moors and we are still having to pick up the pieces from his barbaric ways today. he was a french king of England and as you can guess i am not a fan. Winston Churchill is a slight worry but during the war when he came on in welsh cinema's he was booed, so i have been told by a welsh friend of mine. Florence Nightingale should be better known she was on the back of our ten pound notes for several years, but then who really looks at the pictures on money? as for the rest of the real people the percentages are so small it's just not worth worrying about. As for the fictionals... Well does it really matter that much? and besides most of them are based on actual people in history. oh and the thirteen/fourteen thing... the duke of wellington, sir arthur wellsley. was born in Ireland but considered himself an Englishman.

being british (English) i wonder which part of the country this survey was carried out.Great Britain or the U.K. is four seperate countries each with it's own identy, history and traditions. We all live under the flag of union but we are all proud to be English, Scottish, Welsh, or Irish. Anyway my point is that this survey is very hard on all the non English nations, of the twenty names on the list thirteen/fourteen are English and there is no way on earth a proud Scott (or any of the other three countries) would study English history over his own, and i for one second would not blame him/her. so if this study was done in Scotland you might get very different results as if you did the study in England. There is not much on the list that worries me too much regarding our education system. Richard the lionheart, was french he hated this country, could not speak English and spent most of his time fighting crusades against the moors and we are still having to pick up the pieces from his barbaric ways today. he was a french king of England and as you can guess i am not a fan. Winston Churchill is a slight worry but during the war when he came on in welsh cinema's he was booed, so i have been told by a welsh friend of mine. Florence Nightingale should be better known she was on the back of our ten pound notes for several years, but then who really looks at the pictures on money? as for the rest of the real people the percentages are so small it's just not worth worrying about. As for the fictionals... Well does it really matter that much? and besides most of them are based on actual people in history. oh and the thirteen/fourteen thing... the duke of wellington, sir arthur wellsley. was born in Ireland but considered himself an Englishman.

A very good post.

As mentioned by others these results are also clouded by the so-called fictional people on the list who could have been real or based upon a real individual.

King Arthur could well have existed. If so he was likely to have been a tribal king or chieftan who could unite many of the native tribes to defend their lands against the Saxon invasion. This is all theoretical but possible. Whether he was real or not he seems to be created because the people at the time needed him.

There could even be some truth in Robinhood. If there is any truth behind this character I think he would have been based upon a violent & successful outlaw before any romance was added. Perhaps he was somebody who only robbed the rich but he would probably have been a nasty violent individual. Or he may not have existed at all.

We have such a vast history spanning 4 nations over a very long period. Basic history taught in school only covers a minute fraction of it so it would be unfair to criticise people for not knowing all of this. Yes thinking people like Winston Churchill as fictional is shocking but you need to put this in perspective. I think we are now sadly on the cusp of a generation where the second world war is becoming a "so what". Soon all the veterans will be gone along with the living link. All my grandparents were involved & so it is hard for me to imagine not having that link.

The only way to really educate yourself about many of these things is to read & in an age of technological convenience this is becoming rarer.

Reading through some of the more amazed comments again I would also like to point out the following.

We are all people who enjoy writing on a forum & discussion. Because we enjoy writing it can be assumed that we are all fairly well read & educated individuals hence some are looking at the list from their own perspective and thinking OMG!!.

Can we say the same about the demographic of a random 3000 individuals? Some of these people are going to be very poorly educated therefore you get a SMALL percentage of silly answers.